Vergissmeinnicht Flashcards
Who was the poet
Keith Douglas
‘f/tssits’
“Found/the soldier sprawling in the sun”
- line break heightens tension as in conflict we don’t know what is coming next
- sprawling suggests that it’s not immediately clear if the soldier is dead
- sibilance creates a hiss which shows disgust and horror at the sight
“Hhmtwo/lteoad”
“He hit my tank with one/like the entry of a demon” - simile
- childish tone (he hit) is created which is accusatory / bitter / resentful
- “tank” powerful , indestructible , deadly
One - creates a sense of anonymity just like war
“Demon” - war is hellish / demonic , torture / suffering
“L.hitgs/tdpohg”
“Look. Here in the gun pit spoil/ the dishonoured picture of his girl”
“Look” - makes reader follow soldier ( imperative )
. - caesura emphases instruction
“Gunpit spoil” - spoils that soldiers can find from dead soldiers in war
“Dishonoured” - well worn/faded
“Tdutpe/atbslac”
“The dust upon the paper eye/ and the burst stomach like a cave”
“Dust” - long time forgotten / uncared for
“Paper eye” - images of decay and decomposition/ macabre
“Burst stomach like a cave”
- simile shows destruction through violent imagery
“Burst” - violent verb
“Cave” - hollow and empty like a soldier at war
“Fhtlakam”
“For here the liver and killer are mingled”
-Juxtaposition conveys that human nature is to love but war turns us into violent killers
- creates sense of ambiguity for who is the lover and the killer
Poems conflict
Conflict through war
How war damages and dehumanises humans
“Mabhoe”
“Mocked at by his own equipment”
- extended personification shows that the weapons of war outlive human life
- human life is delicate and should be preserved
- equipment - weapon which symbolises death and destruction
